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Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers came out on top in a wild point guard match-up against Russell Westbrook 115-111 in overtime in Oklahoma City.

The Blazers comeback would not have been were it not for a boneheaded series of plays from Westbrook. Westbrook was the biggest reason the Thunder were winning but a useless personal foul in the backcourt coupled with a technical allowed the Blazers to cut the lead to seven with no time coming off the clock.

Then Lillard came down and hit a deep three off a screen. In the blink of an eye the lead went from 10 to four.

Aldridge and Lillard combined for 32 of Portland’s final 42 points.

Another key to Portland’s success late was head coach Terry Stotts decided to match the Thunder’s 3-guard line-up with Steve Blake and bring in more athleticism in Dorell Wright. Wright didn’t play since his crucial role in Friday’s 3OT win against the Spurs.

Wright didn’t have the 3-point barrage he had against San Antonio but grabbed some crucial rebounds and had a nice tip in in overtime to give the Blazers breathing room.

The Blazers capped off an incredibly successful trip with wins against the Spurs, Pelicans and Thunder without Robin Lopez and getting two of those without Nicolas Batum. The Blazers are nearing the end of a grueling December which had 10 of 16 games on the road.

The Blazers are succeeding when schedules and injury continue seem to say they shouldn’t.

And with 7 of the next 10 days off, the Blazers have earned a considerable amount of rest. They are banged up and sick and certainly need it. Although Lillard and Matthews have played every night, you could tell with the amount of miscommunications the Blazers had tonight they were running out of gas.

Portland Trail Blazers had a great 2013-14 season, as they managed better efficiency rather than a wider offense. In the season's initial two months, the team held the best Western Conference record. However, with the great start, everyone predicted the imminent fall, which eventually happened. Up to end of January, Portland Blazers were 11-3, which went down to 4-6 from February. By March end, it seemed the Warriors would overtake Blazers for the fifth spot, but the team finished strong by making the fifth seed. The Blazers finished with an impressive 54-28 record, and ousted the Rockets in the playoffs before being defeated by the Spurs.

For 2014-15 season, Portland Blazers are amongst the top teams, but certain experts believe they might not have a realistic chance for the title. In the current draft, a pick was not available for the team, and they opted for veterans in free agency. They acquired Chris Kaman and Steve Blake, and the team hopes their young players will begin to play as expected. C.J. McCollum, the pick in the first round of 2013 needs to up his game, as he did not play well after returning from his injury. Similarly, Thomas Robinson, who is the fifth pick of 2012, has to focus considerably on his defense skills. The veterans Blake and Kaman may not be excellent at defense, but they might be able to lead the available talent to meet expectations.

In the last season PG LaMarcus Aldridge and Damina Lillard performed much better than expected, and this year expectations are high for the duo. Robin Lopez at C, Wesley Matthews the shooter, and SF Nicholas Batum are considered the super three of Portland Blazers, and all of them will have to be at their best to meet expectation. Terry Stotts, the head coach will also have a major role to play in the success of the team, as experts are skeptical whether he could lead a team into the playoffs.

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden fractured his left kneecap during a game against the Houston Rockets Saturday night at the Rose Garden.

Oden, 21, the first overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Trail Blazers, underwent surgery on his left patella the following day and he will be shelved for the remainder of the 2009-2010 campaign.

“I’m obviously disappointed having worked so hard to get where I was. This is a setback but I’ll be back. It’s in God’s hands now,” said Oden, who was averaging 11.7 points and 8.8 rebounds this season as a starter.

“I want to thank the fans, my teammates and everyone in the Blazers family for all of their good thoughts.”

Oden, an affable seven-foot giant who is likable and easy to support as a fan, apologized to his teammates once he received his diagnosis.

“He didn’t do anything,” said forward Lamarcus Aldridge. “People don’t understand that injuries are part of the game. We all are at risk every time we play so I think injuries are going to happen. It’s unfortunate that it’s happened to him.”

Many hoops analysts described Oden as a “once-in-a-decade player” after he led Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis to three consecutive Indiana Class 4A basketball championships before he graduated in 2006.

After Oden received his high school degree, he decided to attend Ohio State University.

Despite battling a serious wrist injury, Oden managed to lead the Buckeyes to the 2007 NCAA championship game where they ultimately lost to the University of Florida 84-75.

The center position is one of the strongest spots on the Blazers roster. And if you combine last seasons stats for Joel Pryzbilla and Greg Oden the numbers look pretty good. 13.4 pts, 15.7 rbs, 2.3 bks. What team wouldn't be happy with that?

Last season began with the Trailblazers annointing Greg as their starter at the 5 spot. It was and up and down year for the youngster from Ohio State. He started 39 games for Portland, had a career-high 24 points and 15 rebounds in a win against the Milwaukee Bucks on January 19. If he'd been able to average 36 minutes per game his PER would have been 14.8 pts, 11.6 rbs, and 1.9 bks. The season also had its low points for Oden. Not only did he have trouble staying in games due to foul trouble, ( his PER for fouls if he'd averaged 36 min was 6.5) he had physical problems as well and suffered an injury to his foot during his first game against the Lakers, and fractured his kneecap in February during a collision with Corey Magette and missed three weeks.

Much was made of the fact that Greg was only able to play in 61 games last season. But if you compare that with Joel Pryzbillas 11 year NBA career, there were only 4 seasons in which Joel was able to play more than 61 games. And it was only the second time in his five years in Portland that he was able to do so. Fortunately for the Blazers, last season the grizzly veteran was a bit of an iron man and played in all 82 games for the first time in his career.Continue reading "Breaking down the Blazers....Part Five"

posted by ucatchtrout

If you think about the power forward spot on the Blazers there is only one name that really comes to mind. LaMarcus Aldridge. LA. L-Train. After three seasons with Portland Aldridge has proven to be one of the best, if not the best young power forwards in the league. And sometime within the next month or so he will likely be rewarded for his play with a near maximum contract.

The draft day move that brought the former Texas Longhorn to Portland has paid off. LaMarcus has been a good fit here in not only on the floor, but in the locker room and in the community. Touted by many as a future all-star, he has the starting 4 spot on the Portland roster locked up.

There isn't any question about who the starter is, but after Aldridge its power forward by committee, with veteran Travis Outlaw and rookies Dante Cunningham and Jeff Pendergraph all likely to see some PT. Outlaw, who is in the last year of his contract, has been oft mentioned in trade rumors and will likely be playing in a different uniform next year. Travis was drafted originally as a power forward. He was skinny as a toothpick and we were told he would eventually grow into the postion. Although he has put on some muscle and has been a fixture in the playing rotation over the last few seasons he is undersized for a 4, and if something were to happen to Aldridge I'd hate to see us have to rely on him as our starter. Perhaps that is what Kevin Pritchard was thinking when he signed Paul Milsap to an offer sheet? Continue reading ""

Depending on how you look at it there are as many questions about the three position on the Blazer roster as there are at any other position. And that of course is one reason the Blazers made a run at signing Hedo Turkoglu.

Coach McMillian said last season that a starter would not lose his spot in the starting lineup due to injury. He said that after Martell broke his foot the first time. By the end of the season he was saying that young Nic Batum would be the starter this year. Then, as we all know as soon as they had the chance the team did everything it could to sign free agent small forward Hedu Turkoglu.

Heading into training camp I see no clear cut choice for a starter at small forward, despite what the coach may say. The top two players at this postion will battle it out for the starting spot.

Nic Batum and Martell Webster....possible startersRudy, Roy, Outlaw, and rookie Dante Cunningham will all likely get some PT at this position.

Veteran Martell Webster was ready to have a breakout season last year. And he'd spent all summer working on taking his game to the next level. He looked great during preseason before the unfortunate injury to his foot. I've been worried about his recovery since I visited with him at his home in April and saw that he was still limping. I was happy to learn today that he is less than a week away from being cleared for full action. If all goes well I seriously doubt we'll notice any impact in his game. The season doesn't start for two more months and you can bet that Martell is already in shape, and will do whatever he has to do to be an impact player for this team.

Who is our point guard? And who do we want to be our point guard? These are two questions that have often been asked about our Portland Trailblazers over the last couple of seasons. We've had a number of players look to claim that spot over the years, Steve Blake, Sergio Rodriguez, Jerryd Bayless, Petteri Kopponen, to name a few. And we had another hopeful in Summer League camp in Patty Mills until he went down with an unfortunate foot injury.

Our point guards going into the 2009-10 season.Andre Miller, starterSteve Blake, backupBrandon Roy, may pick up a few minutes here and there at the pointBayless, not likely to see much time at this position unless there is an injury to Blake or Miller.

There may have been more questions about who the Blazers will use at this position than any other. Hopefully some of those questions were answered during the offseason with the free agent signing of veteran Andre Miller. Everyone knows that Brandon Roy will handle the ball, including our opponents. The guy got mugged in the playoffs last year and clearly needed some help. If you are one of those folks who insist Brandon Roy is the point guard on our team I respectfully disagree. He can fill that spot at times, but we are asking him to do so much already, in the long run its probably best if someone else initiates the fast break and starts the offense. Roy admitted as much after Miller was signed and said he was looking forward to fast breaking more. That was good news to me, and I'm sure to other fans who have been disenchanted with Nates ball control offense.

The Portland Trailblazers added free agent point guard Andre Miller to their roster this week, which undoubtedly makes them a better team. They now have Andre Miller and Steve Blake as their primary point guard as opposed to last season when they had Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez. The Blazers will definitely benefit from Miller's vocality and leadership both on and off the court and Greg Oden will appreciate his lob passes he loves to throw to his streaking posts.This deal makes Brandon Roy happy, which is the number one goal in the Rose City. With that said this deal does not make much sense. Yes, the addition of Andre Miller makes Portland better, but it does not make them better than the Lakers, Spurs, or even the Nuggets. So it appears that Portland really isn't better in the standings. Houston will fall of next year and Portland will likely still be the four seed out west.The only thing this addition does for us is maybe put us past the first round, which we should have gotten past last season. This deal does; however, give us a young guard by the name of Jerryd Bayless, who can now be used as trade bait. Unless Portland makes a move for a small forward signing Miller is essentially a waste.Last season there were talks of us trading for Gerald Wallace. Look for those discussions to continue this season. Possibly a Bayless and Outlaw deal for Wallace. Hopefully, Portland can see that they need one more piece and do something about it. Portland loves Bayless, but we don't need him. Nikolas Batum and Outlaw are not starters on a championship team and Continue reading "Blazers add Andre Miller, Need to ..."

Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan is flying to Orlando to have a Wednesday night dinner with the Blazers' top free-agent target, Hedo Turkoglu.

Turkoglu's agent, Lon Babby, said Wednesday that Turkoglu will then travel to Oregon for a Thursday tour of the Blazers' facilities and meetings with Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard and assistant GM Tom Penn.

With the Blazers projected to have $8 million to $9 million in salary-cap space this summer -- with firm figures not known until the league announces next season's salary cap on July 8 -- and the Orlando Magic lacking the financial flexibility to re-sign Turkoglu after trading for Vince Carter last week, Turkoglu is widely expected to land with the Blazers as the first marquee free-agent signing of Pritchard's reign.

Teams and free agents were permitted to strike verbal agreements on new deals as of 12:01 a.m. ET Wednesday but new contracts cannot be signed until the cap figure is announced and the NBA's moratorium on signings is lifted next week

Portland coach Nate McMillen is flying to Orlando today to meet with free agent Hedo Turkoglu. Then tomorrow, Turkoglu is flying to Oregen to tour the Trailblazers facilities. Portland is definately a team that has changed it's direction the last few years. The team figures to have 8 to 9 million under the cap to offer Hedo. The starting lineup of Steve Blake, Brandon Roy, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Joel Pryzbilla wasn't bad during the playoffs. Batum would start the game on the other team's best player and then not play much after that. Now, Turkoglu will start at small forward. That leaves Batum, Channing Frye, and Gerg Oden as pretty good backups. The next step will be to find better backups for starters Blake and Roy.Continue reading "Portland working on Turkoglu"